Alhurra

Alhurra (or Al Hurra), "the free one," is an Arabic-language American satellite TV channel based in Springfield, Virigina, financed by the U.S. government, and "beamed across the Arab world" and "aimed at viewers in the Middle East." As with other forms of U.S. public diplomacy, it is not allowed to broadcast inside the U.S. because of the 1948 Smith-Mundt Act. . The channel is owned by the Middle East Television Network Inc., a holding company, and overseen by the U.S.-funded Broadcasting Board of Governors.

The U.S. established the network to counter what it considered the grotesquely anti-American slant of the Qatar-based Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya networks. Dubbed as the "American answer to Al Jazeera, the station went online Saturday, February 14, 2004. The Washington Post described Al Hurra as "the U.S. government's largest and most expensive effort to sway foreign opinion over the airwaves since the creation of Voice of America in 1942."

According to the Washington Post, Al Hurra broadcasts 24-hour a day and "airs two daily hour-long newscasts, and sports, cooking, fashion, technology and entertainment programs, including a version of 'Inside the Actors Studio' dubbed in Arabic. It also carries political talk shows and magazine-type news programs, including one about the U.S. presidential election. "Eighty of Alhurra's 150 journalists moved here from Lebanon, Egypt, Morocco, Iraq and other Middle Eastern countries. Fifty remained abroad to work in the network's bureaus in Amman, Baghdad, Beirut and Dubai."

Initial reactions
As broadcasts of the station began in mid-February 2004, its audience regarded the station's claims of providing "accurate and balanced news to viewers 'enabling them to make informed decisions'" with a healthy amount of skepticism. "'There is a problem of credibility related to the United States. This channel will have that problem from the beginning, that it is a cover-up for basic, American unacceptable acts,' said Abdel-Monem Said, director of Egypt's Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies." 

A press release announcing Alhurra's launch stated, "The channel is dedicated to presenting accurate, balanced and comprehensive news." 

More reactions to Al Hurra
The day after the broadcast began, according to the Guardian/UK, "few people in downtown Cairo confessed to tuning in for the inaugural broadcast. Opinions, however, were plentiful. 'You mean the American propaganda channel?' proved the most popular response."

The Guardian writes that "Al Hurra's debut passed without notice in some quarters: most Egyptians cannot afford a satellite dish. In others, it was given a sceptical glance. On Sunday, the daily newspaper Al Ahram mentioned its arrival in a few, short paragraphs. 'Empty Al Hurra channel ... Handmaiden won't clean the muddy face,' declared a headline in the latest El Osboa. The article argued that Arabs' fury with the United States will not change as long as it 'blindly bows' to Israel."

Al Jazeera quickly discounted its new competitor. "Until the United States does something about [the Palestinian situation], all the PR in the world will not make a difference," said Richard Curtiss of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs told Al Jazeera.

Islam Online, on Monday, February 16, 2004, "dismissed [Al Hurra] as slanted, arrogant and condescending" and as having been "launched to polish the image of the United States in the region."

"Egyptian pundit Salama Ahmed Salama said according to Agence France-Presse (AFP) ... 'The channel and its presenters insist on the fact they are free, as if they were telling the Arab viewer he is not, that he is oppressed and the United States will teach him freedom. ... It's quite a stupid way of proceeding." Salama is "the editorialist for the government newspaper Al-Ahram who is often critical of the Egyptian political process."

"For the English-language daily, Jordan Times, the launch on Valentine's Day of Alhurra 'to promote the values of democracy and freedom' was no coincidence but part of a U.S. campaign to reach the hearts and minds of the Middle East. ... 'It is eminently more rational to promote such values by argument and example... than by brute military force,' it said in reference to the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq.

"The editor-in-chief of Al-Arab Al-Yawm daily, Taher al-Adwan, said Alhurra's first duty should be 'to provide proof on the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq which were the (U.S.) pretext for invading that country and occupying it ... The new American media campaign in the Arab world is not aimed at spreading democracy but hiding the truth, withholding information,' Adwan wrote."

The Singapore Straits Times reported in March 2004 that two Saudi clerics said that Muslims should not watch, work for, or advertise on the U.S. funded Al-Hurra satellite channel. In a written fatwa, Sheik Ibrahim al-Khudairi said the channel was "founded by America to fight Islam, and to propagate massive decay to Americanise the world."

The Hill reported in July 2004 that nearly half of the Voice of America's staff signed a petition complaining that the Broadcasting Board of Governors launched "new services in the Middle East with no editorial accountability" while cutting back VoA programs in the region. One VoA editor called the new Middle East networks - Radio Sawa, Al Hurra and Radio Farda - "expensive and ill advised." The VoA petition claims the new networks "provide inadequate news coverage and do not operate under VoA's charter, which guarantees balanced reporting." Other Middle East media have questioned the credibility of the new U.S.-funded networks.

In October 2004, the Washington Post reported that Al Hurra's news director Mouafac Harb bristled at the claim that offered a more pro-U.S. version of the news than other Arabic channels and was having a hard time reaching many viewers because of the perception that it is American propaganda. Al Hurra news director Mouafac Harb responded to charges by saying, "We're state-funded, but not state-run. I don't recall getting a phone call from someone trying to steer the news. Ever." The Post pointed out, however, that U.S. Rep. Jose E. Serrano (D-N.Y.) said at a hearing in April, that's exactly why Congress is funding it. "Do not tell us it's not propaganda, because if it's not propaganda, then I think ... we will have to look at what it is we are doing," Serrano said.

U.S. motivations
According to "Norman Pattiz, a member of the Broadcasting Board of Governors' Middle East Committee, the government agency which oversees Voice of America and now Al Hurra, explained that the newscasts would be free from government influence. The network's mission, he said, was to provide independent and credible journalism, not to sway hearts or influence opinions."

The Al Hurra web site states that the satellite television network (and Al Hurra Iraq) is operated by a non-profit corporation called the Middle East Television Network, Inc. (MTN) and receives its funding from the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), "an independent and autonomous Federal entity."

George W. Bush alluded to Al Hurra in his January 2004 State of the Union address. "To cut through the barriers of hateful propaganda, the Voice of America and other broadcast services are expanding their programs in Arabic and Persian -- and, soon a new television service will begin providing reliable news and information across the region," Bush said.

According to a February 3, 2004, UPI news report, its creation "reflects the changing foreign policy priorities of an administration set on winning the global war on terrorism and the hearts and minds of the countries where terrorists recruit." The network was to be funded with $30 million in the U.S. State Department's budget request for 2004.

According to the February 9, 2004, Christian Science Monitor, "One way the US will try to change its image, particularly in the Arabic world, is the Al Hurra, or 'The Free One,' network. President Bush announced last Wednesday that Al Hurra will start this week, and is designed as an alternative to Middle-Eastern broadcasts often critical of the US.

"The broadcasts will be transmitted from a facility in Springfield, VA., and will cost the government $62 million for the first year of operation. Mr. Bush said Al Hurra will aim to cut through the 'hateful propaganda that fills the airwaves in the Muslim world' and tell people 'the truth about the values and the policies of the United States.' The Los Angeles Times reports officials of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, the agency responsible for US government-sponsored international broadcasting efforts, promise that the channel will have high-quality production and editorial independence. Norman J. Pattiz, a board member and the founder of Westwood One, the largest US radio network, has been active in the project.

"Al Hurra is not the first attempt American governments have made in the Middle East to change Arab opinions about the US."

Compared to Al Jazeera
Imad Musa, who worked in Al Jazeera's Washington bureau before becoming a producer for Al Hurra, "said he received assurances of journalistic freedom before taking the job and has not felt pressure to slant a story. There are, he acknowledged, differences between the policies of his current and former employer. Alhurra's reporters are told not to refer to the U.S. presence in Iraq as an occupation. Those who set off explosive devices attached to their bodies are called suicide bombers, not martyrs." Musa also said that Al Hurra reporters covering Iraq "focus on more human-interest and positive stories. For instance, 'electricity has arrived in this neighborhood,' not 'this neighborhood still doesn't have electricity'." 

Forum Discussion

Possible contract "irregularities"
In November 2005 the Financial Times reported that the Broadcasting Board of Governors had asked State Department's Inspector General to investigate Al Hurra for "possible irregularities" with procurement and contracting as well as "concerns that viewing figures might be inflated." The BBG oversees Al Hurra, which has a budget of $49 million for 2005. The House of Representatives subcommittee on oversight and investigations is also looking into the Virginia-based network, which broadcasts to 22 countries. The FT reports Kenneth Tomlinson -- BBG chair and until very recently a member of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting -- and Al Hurra news director Mouafac Harb will be called as witnesses for the November 10 hearing. According to the FT, Harb called the inspector general's investigation a general review into whether al-Hurra was fulfilling its mission. "There's a campaign against al-Hurra by some people in this city who don't like our dedication to freedom and democracy," he said. 

Management
Alhurra's website states, "Alhurra is operated by a private corporation called 'The Middle East Broadcast Network, Inc.' (MBN).  MBN is financed by the American people through the Congress.  MBN receives this funding from the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), an independent and autonomous Federal entity. The BBG serves as a firewall to protect the professional independence and integrity of the broadcasters." 

Handling Abu Ghraib
On May 5, 2004, following revelations of the abuse, torture, rape and killing of Iraqi detainees in the Abu Ghraib prison, by U.S. military officers and private military contractors, President Bush granted an interview to Alhurra.

Reporter killed
On February 9, 2005, Abdul-Hussein Khazal, Alhurra's Basra correspondent, and his young son were fatally shot outside their house in the southern Iraqi city of Basra. 

Expanding to Europe
In February 2005, Reuters reported on plans to broadcast Alhurra to Muslim communities in Europe, as part of the Bush administration's "new escalation of its information war against Islamic extremism." France and Germany, the European countries with the largest Muslim populations, were reported to be of special interest as "potential breeding grounds of extremism," while Russia would not be included. 

"The 9/11 hijackers came largely from Europe. It's a significant gap that we were not broadcasting in Arabic to Europe," remarked BBG chair Kenneth Y. Tomlinson. The broadcasts were planned to start in the fall of 2005, with $3.5 billion in start-up funding from the $81 billion supplemental budget request for military operations in Iraq. The Reuters report also noted, "Officials say that Alhurra has grown to reach about 25 percent of satellite television viewers in the Middle East." 

Changes in leadership and programming
A March 2007 opinion piece by Joel Mowbray in the Wall Street Journal expressed concern at changes in Al Hurra's programming since "longtime CNN producer, Larry Register" became the channel's news director in November 2006. "Investigations into Arab government wrongdoing or oppression were no longer in vogue, and the ban on turning the airwaves over to terrorists was lifted. For those who had chafed under Mr. Register's predecessor -- who curbed the desire of many on staff to make Al-Hurra more like al-Jazeera -- the new era was welcomed warmly," wrote Mowbray. 

Contact
Springfield, Virginia USA Phone: + 1 (703) 852-9000 Fax: + 1 (703) 852-9002 Email: media AT alhurra.com Web: http://alhurra.com

SourceWatch resources

 * Hi Magazine
 * Iraqi Media Network
 * Karen Hughes
 * Layalina Productions
 * Media control
 * Mouafac Harb
 * propaganda
 * public diplomacy
 * Radio Sawa
 * Voice of America
 * war propaganda

Reports

 * "The Middle East Television Network: An Overview," by Jeremy M. Sharp, Middle East Policy Analyst, Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division, Congressional Research Service, updated August 17, 2005.

Articles

 * Eli Lake, "Budget Focuses Foreign Aid Against Terror," United Press International, February 3, 2003.
 * David Shelby, "Middle East Television Network Aims to Replicate Radio Sawa's Success", September 25, 2003.
 * Paul Richter, U.S. to Reach Out to Arabs Via TV. Bush's answer to Al Jazeera is Al Hurra, a $62-million-a-year project that will strive to improve America's image in the Mideast, Los Angeles Times, February 5, 2004.
 * Paul Richter, Bush says yes to ArabTV, BUPipeDream.com, February 6, 2004.
 * Tom Regan, US image abroad will 'take years' to repair. Experts tell Congress 'bottom has fallen out' for US support abroad, Christian Science Monitor, February 9, 2004.
 * Broadcasting Board of Governors, "Alhurra, New Arabic-language Satellite Television Station, Launched February 14, 2004," press release, February 12, 2004.
 * Matthew Craft, "US Arabic channel a turn-off," Guardian, February 16 2004.
 * Nancy Snow, Al Hurra-Al Who?: Haven't heard? We're Free, They're Not!, Common Dreams, March 9, 2004.
 * Firas Al-Atraqchi, Iraqi officials argue with Alhurra commentator, YellowTimes.org, February 17, 2004.
 * Ellen McCarthy, "Va.-Based, U.S.-Financed Arabic Channel Finds Its Voice," Washington Post, October 15, 2004.
 * David Morgan, "US to expand Arabic broadcasts: Programming to reach Europe," Reuters, February 28, 2005.
 * Georg Mascolo and Bernhard Zand, "Good Morning Iraq: US Sponsored Television in the Middle East is 'Cheaper than an Invasion,'" Der Spiegel, May 21, 2005.
 * "US counters bad publicity of Iraqi prisoner abuse through al-Hurra TV," ChannelNewsAsia.com, May 21, 2005.
 * Corey Pein, "The New Wave: The Voice of America is being drowned out by a mix of pop-flavored propaganda. What should America sound like?", Columbia Journalism Review, May/June 2005.
 * Neil King, Jr., "Sparking Debate, Radio Czar Retools Government Media," Wall Street Journal, June 20, 2005.
 * Guy Dinmore, "US-backed Arab TV network to be investigated", FT.com, November 4, 2005.
 * Art Levine, "Bad Reception," The American Prospect Online, November 7, 2005. Levine takes a closer look at the incompetance and cronyism associated with the US-funded station.
 * Anatol Lieven and David Chambers, Opinion: "The Limits of Propaganda," Los Angeles Times, February 13, 2006 (syndicated in The Toronto Star (Canada); Arab News (Saudi Arabia); and Radikal (Turkey). Article concludes by saying "Al Hurra should be closed down at once."
 * Joel Mowbray, Opinion: "Television Takeover," Wall Street Journal (sub req'd), March 12, 2007.
 * "U.S. Government's Arabic-Language Channel Airs Anti-Israel Comments from Hamas, Hezbollah," Associated Press (Fox News), May 16, 2007.
 * Justin Rood, "U.S. Government Gave Airtime to Terrorists, Official Admits," ABC News blog "The Blotter," May 22, 2007.
 * "News Chief Quits Arab Language Network," Associated Press, June 9, 2007.
 * Marc Lynch, "The failure of public diplomacy: What the downfall of al-Hurra, America's Arabic language television station, says about US efforts to win hearts and minds in the Middle East," Guardian (UK), June 16, 2007.
 * Chris Forrester: "‘Switch off Al Hurra’ call," Rapid TV News March 10, 2008.
 * David Chambers: "BBC Arabic TV will Rock the Arab World," Middle East Times, March 10, 2008.
 * Dafna Linzer, "Lost in Translation: Alhurra -- America’s Troubled Effort to Win Middle East Hearts and Minds," ProPublica.org, June 22, 2008.
 * Craig Whitlock, "U.S. Network Falters in Mideast Mission," Washington Post, June 23, 2008.